PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Natalie Pompilio and Joseph A. Slobodzian
Inquirer Staff Writers
They are among the Catholic Church's most devout: regular Mass-goers, generous givers, people who have made religion a centerpiece in their family lives.
And this week, they learned that some of the people who led Masses have admitted to molesting children, that their families may not have been safe within hallowed walls.
The 418-page grand jury report says the sexual abuse of hundreds of children was covered up by church leaders, including Cardinals John Krol and Anthony J. Bevilacqua. It details the acts of perversion allegedly executed by certain priests. Even a confessional was not a safe place for child, according to the report.
If an institution is only as strong as the people who support it, just how will the priest-abuse grand jury's findings of institutionalized misdeeds affect Catholicism in the Philadelphia Archdiocese?
Among the area's 1.5 million faithful, there was a range of emotions this week, including sorrow and anger, disgust, and a feeling of betrayal. Some say they are lost forever.
And that saddens people like Rita Ungaro-Schiavone.
Ungaro-Schiavone, 70, works with many churches and priests through her organization, Aid for Friends, which provides free meals and companionship to the housebound. A parishioner of St. Jerome's Roman Catholic Church, near her home in the city's Winchester Park section, she is personally acquainted with some of the priests accused of sex crimes. She has decided not to contact them to ask them about the allegations.